When we answer the phone these days, we frequently hear from farmers with the same question, “What can we do to protect our farm?” Farmers across the region are worried about their farm’s future. And many are looking for options to ensure that their farm will continue to be farmed for generations. Without a clear path to the next farmer, there is a high risk of the farm being lost to development when it is sold.
And that is where Genesee Land Trust comes in. We help farmers in Monroe and Wayne Counties learn about options including the Purchase of their Development Rights (PDR) from New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Hundreds of hours over several years will be spent from that first phone call to in-depth conversations to preparing a grant application and then completing the PDR process.
HOW WE CAN HELP
Investing in our farmland protection team will increase our ability to protect more of the incredibly productive soils in our region to ensure a community of diverse farms generation after generation.
In 2021, successful applications for PDR funding resulted in 10 farmland protection projects currently in process—projects that when completed will double the amount of protected farmland in the region.
Genesee Land Trust is also part of New York’s Regional Navigator program, looking to connect interested farmers to available land. We reach out to diverse communities and build bridges with current farm owners to new farmers for the next generation.
INVESTING IN OUR TEAM
From left: Lorna, Liz and Amanda.
To address the growing need, we expanded our farmland protection team with Amanda Grisa as the new Farmland Protection Manager. She joins Lorna Wright, Deputy Executive Director, and Liz Sheehan, Farmland Protection Assistant. Amanda comes from a family of farmers in Naples, New York, and runs a small market farm. She previously worked at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County, Fruition Seeds, LLC, and the State of Oregon’s Water Resources Department.
Much is at stake as we look to the future. According to American Farmland Trust, “When properly managed, farmland and ranchland support wildlife and biodiversity, recharge aquifers, clean water, and— of paramount importance in our fight against climate change—sequester carbon.”
In addition, in the next 15 years, one-third of America’s farmland will likely change hands as current landowners age and sell. Amanda and the rest of Genesee Land Trust’s farmland protection team will be here and ready to help.
Investing in our farmland protection team will increase our ability to protect more of the incredibly productive soils in our region to ensure a community of diverse farms generation after generation.